Tag Archives: urban

A worthwhile event to check out going down September 2, 2010 in Toronto:

LITERATURE FOR LIFE announces the all-star line-up for the second annual POETIC FASHION to be held SEPTEMBER 2, 2010 at the ST. LAWRENCE CENTRE FOR THE ARTS. JUNO AWARD NOMINEE KIM DAVIS (kimdavisonline.com) and RAPTORS TV SHOWTIME HOST AKIL AUGUSTINE host a showcase of some of Toronto’s best up and coming designers – including ROD PHILIPOT of SHKANK INC. (shkank.com) whose designs have already graced the stages of THE GRAMMYS, MISS UNIVERSE, and SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE and CINDY RENEE of SODALISIOUS (carringtonsworld.com) who has been worn by celebrities like 90210’s ANNA LYNNE-MCCORD.But this isn’t your average fashion show. Poetic Fashion also showcases some of Toronto’s best talent including CANADIAN BEATBOX CHAMPION SCOTT JACKSON (myspace.com/sjbeatbox), composer and pianist JD KEYS and APOLLO AMATEUR NIGHT WINNER BLAKE CARRINGTON (carringtonsworld.com)alongside a host of established and up and coming spoken word artists from Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods. Poetic Fashion is a model youth leadership initiative – run by youth for youth – and committed to building bridges not barriers between Toronto’s at-risk communities, finding commonalties, not differences.

Internet Soldiers!

They …
Spend all of their time threatening people over the internet to compensate for their ‘lack of a life’ and hatred of humanity for not accepting him.

They …
Are a computer geek that only exists on the internet and thinks he is top sh*t by typing in CAPITALS, swearing excessively and thinking they can beat you down in a fight.

They are the E-Thugs, because they will never think about getting at you in the streets; they exist only in standard unicode web fonts.

BE CAREFUL WHEN you approach these characters they may TWEET you to death, TEAR UP that wall on your FACEBOOK, and simply mess up your MYSPACE … thought they will never breach your physical space … lames!

“Almost 100 people — including 69 men, 21 women and five people under 18 — are appearing in court today to face charges ranging from possesssion of stolen property to drug and gun trafficking and gangsterism charges after yesterday morning’s raids targeting members of the west-end Toronto street gang Driftwood Crips.

In total, 88 search warrants were executed on residences, vehicles and lockers. Warrants are still outstanding for nine people.

Hundreds of police officers executed 37 search warrants in the Jane and Finch area — the epicentre of Project Kryptic, so named for sounding a little like Crips. The Driftwood Crips were the main target of the investigation that began almost a year ago.

After spending the night in custody, the suspects are being paraded into Etobicoke court where they will be identified and their fate determined so far as bail is concerned.

As part of Project Kryptic, which began 11 months ago, police seized 24 handguns, four sawed-off rifles, four replica guns and 900 rounds of ammunition.

Police also seized 30 kilograms of cocaine, 20 kilograms of marijuana, hash oil and close to a quarter of a million dollars in Canadian and U.S. currency”

—
My commentary on this event in Toronto is that every year or so, the police announces a big raid/bust that dismantles a street gang — which is good for the community and city. Most street gangs have two elements: white-collar crime & violence. White-collar crime in the form of money laundering and transnational schemes/hustles. Violence can be defined as confrontations between rival gangs vying for street superiority. I understand that the media pays toooo much attention to violent acts. White-collar crime is more costly and harmful not only to the direct parties involved, but to regional/national economies and markets. White-collar crime is committed by organizations that are kinda above the ‘street gang’ label – but police do not seemed to be so determined to catch/raid these organizations as much as the street gangs. When was the last time the mafia was raided with such a big sting? Is it because they are more sophisticated than street gangs or is more attention/resources put towards street gangs??

To paraphrase, basically, a 22 young black woman decided to have a baby shower. Her first one, the ‘baby daddy’ is out of the picture. Now, from what I know, when you have a baby shower, you ask for necessity items: diapers, clothing, food, wipes, and things of that nature. And you usually create a registry, so that people are not buying duplicate items. However, this young scholar did not have a registry, but requested her friends to buy everything from Rocawear sheets, a pair of Jordan’s, Sean John pyjamas, jewelery, and other foolery items – in all, she only received one package of diapers for her newborn. And this already single mother believed that she had a good shower, because her baby will look ‘fly’ – and I guess, you can’t really dispute that. But, the baby has no necessities coming into the world. To me, if I was about to have a baby, I would put items that the baby needs, in abundance, on the registry: diapers, wipes, baby food, clothing (regular). I would make sure that I have like 20 boxes of diapers; I would desire for that more than making sure my baby is iced-out. And the people who came bearing gifts, they did not think that maybe they should by necessities – but instead, they brought name brand clothes and jewellery. I strongly hope that this is an isolated incidence, and this is not the norm amongst our people.